Outdoor Video Finds

Taking in the view on a climbing hike and video shoot.

I remember seeing “E.T.” in the drive-in movie theater when I was a kid. The story of a misfit alien befriending a misfit boy was magical. I can still smell my parents car, the dog-hair scent of the blankets we wrapped ourselves in and the buttery popcorn wafting through the air.

Steven Spielberg’s cinematography captivated my mind unlike anything else and for the rest of my life I was a movie fan. Not just of his, but of all films. I remember watching “Jaws” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and thinking, I could make a movie some day.

Fast forward to present day. Little did I know then that technology would make it possible for nearly any starry-eyed kid with a camera to become a Spielberg on some level. And today, I’m making movies. Sure, they’re not E.T., but hell I’m having fun and my videos get a little better every time.

Case in point: when I first started making videos for the last newspaper I worked at, they were little more than simplistic slideshows. However, two of my videos swept first and second place awards in Video Story from the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association in its 2014 Keystone Awards.

Now, I have a new camera and the world is my oyster. Shuck it.

You can find my latest rock climbing and hiking video on my Vimeo page.

I also enjoy watching other people’s videos. So here’s a couple of my favorite outdoor-oriented videos and why I like them:

Boulder on! – Brian Harrington lives in Colorado, but some years ago he too was exploring the climbing and bouldering opportunities in northern Pennsylvania. Here’s his his first-ascent video of a boulder problem dubbed “Tail Spin” at Sunfish Pond, Pa. I like this because it combines acrobatic grace, endurance, physical strength and puzzle-solving brain skills. Brian makes it look easy. Rock on, dude.

Fogged-in – I recently found Caleb & Shawn on Vimeo out of a random search for backpacking videos. I was hooked. “Fog” is by far one of my favorites from them. I love the mystery and foreboding of fog. It’s intriguing to walk among clouds. The way in which they took dreary days and made them into something beautiful is excellent.